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5 Things You Can Do on Fridays to Make Your Mondays a Breeze

Written by: Kathryn Tuggle07/14/14 - 7:30 AM EDT

NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- Mondays at the office are never fun, but they don’t have to be stressful if you plan ahead. Experts weigh in on five things to do on Fridays to set yourself up for a successful, worry-free start to the week.

1. Catch up on email

If Mondays are a nightmare simply because of the volume of unread email in your inbox, get a jump-start on your responses, recommends Cathy Renda, senior employee engagement manager at WinterWyman.

“If you can clean out a little of that backlog on Friday, on Monday you’ll be able to respond to what’s new rather than playing catchup all day,” Renda says. “When you have old emails to answer on top of the ones coming in, it can feel like you’re fighting a losing battle.”

If you don’t want to be stuck at your office late on Friday responding to emails, Rends recommends setting aside an hour or half-hour over the weekend to catch up.

“I’m not suggesting people work outside of their regular workday, but this may be the best solution for some people,” she says, adding that in U.S. culture, the concept of a 40-hour workweek doesn’t exist for many constantly connected professionals.

“If I come into the office on Monday and I have new email beyond what I can see on one screen, it starts to give me anxiety and it can be hard to know where to start,” she says. “But with a little planning, I’m prepared.”

2. Review your calendar for the upcoming week

“When people are in control of their calendar, they feel in control of their jobs,” Renda says. “If you look ahead, you can avoid booking things back-to-back so you can give yourself breathing room in your schedule, even time to take lunch.”

Even if your schedule isn’t crazy, looking ahead to next week on a Friday can help you prepare mentally for what’s coming -- and choose the right attire.

“Maybe you have a client meeting and you need to make sure you’re dressed appropriately,” she says. “You don’t want to show up in more casual summer attire if there’s something important going on.”

It’s key to understand who you’ll be meeting with so you can do the appropriate research, says Maren Donovan, CEO of Zirtual, a virtual assistant provider.

“If you can review your upcoming meetings on a Friday, that gives you or your assistant time to prepare a mini dossier on each person you’re meeting,” Donovan says. “You can Google them, look at their LinkedIn profile, and when you sit down face-to-face, you’ll be familiar with them and their background. It puts you ahead of the game.”